With the latest missile tests and rhetoric, this seems to be going bad very quickly. Its a good thing we can rely on the good sense of the US administration to turn down the heat......

It's hard dealing with fanatics. It's true that nothing the US has done to date has had much impact. I think the US is basically trying to play China, and get them to do something about North Korea. I don't think anyone wants a military action in that region given how unstable the NK leadership is and given they have a massive army parked just a few miles from South Korea's capital.

China isn't happy with North Korea either but what do you suggest they do?

So far Trump has managed to **** off the Australians, Brits and Germans. North Korea gets uppity and he blames the Chinese. Not a word about Russians though.

I'm no Trump supporter. But the Chinese have been playing the West for decades. I have no patience for them. Trump can say whatever he wants about those conniving, dishonest, corrupt dictators in Beijing.

I'm no Trump supporter. But the Chinese have been playing the West for decades. I have no patience for them. Trump can say whatever he wants about those conniving, dishonest, corrupt dictators in Beijing.

China is not the US. It has its own regional problems. North Korea is a much bigger problem for China than Mexico is for the US.

So what is helpful? Being nice to China certainly hasn't worked over the years. I find it hard to believe the Chinese couldn't get rid of this guy if they wanted to.

I guess the big question is: get rid of this guy how? Targeted assassination? Extreme political pressure?

North Korea is composed of a rather large number of near-starving workers. Anything that might upset the status quo might result in an influx of refugees into China, something the chinese might be hesitant to have happen.

Add to that the fact that North Korea is extremely militarized and its unknown how they would react to loosing dear leader, the risk being they might become beligerant. Granted, much of their military is very outdated, but it could still make life miserable for a few hours until their forces are taken out.

From: http://www.vox.com/2017/4/12/15279654/trump-north-korea-xi-10-minutesApparently, Trump came into his first meeting with the Chinese leader, in early April, convinced that China could simply eliminate the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program. Xi then patiently explained Chinese-Korean history to Trump — who then promptly changed his mind. “After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy,” the president told the Journal. “I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power [over] North Korea. ... But it’s not what you would think.”

China is not the US. It has its own regional problems. North Korea is a much bigger problem for China than Mexico is for the US.

I think China has North Korea fairly well in hand. I also think North Korea's sudden spate of missile launching had more to do with Trump's plans to threaten Chinese exports than anything else. Once those threats stopped the missiles stopped. If Trump decides to resurrect his threats and threaten to take action against China's trade violations expect there to be more missile launches from North Korea - which China will 'handle' as long as the US shuts up about trade.